“
Then Willow musters up the courage to invite Oz to Buffy’s surprise birthday party in “Surprise”—and he is immediately initiated into the Scooby Gang when he sees a vampire explode into dust. He joins in the heist of the rocket launcher without so much as batting an eye: “So, do you guys steal weapons from the army a lot?” he asks. And he makes it very clear where he stands:
Oz: “Sometimes when I’m sitting in class, I’m not thinking about class, ’cause you know that could never happen, I think about kissing you and then it’s like everything stops. It’s like freeze frame. Willow kissage…but I’m not gonna kiss you.”
Willow: “What? But…freeze frame…”
Oz: “Well, to the casual observer, it would appear like you want to make your friend Xander jealous. Or even the score or something. That’s on the empty side. See, in my fantasy, when I’m kissing you…you’re kissing me. It’s okay, I can wait.”
—“INNOCENCE”
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